January 23, 2006

"Baseball Between the Numbers" due out in March

For anyone who's been waiting for me to get off my duff and write something that's neither on fishwrap nor cast to the electronic winds, I'm very pleased to announce that the new Baseball Prospectus book Baseball Between the Numbers contains three new essays by yours truly: "Do High Salaries Lead to High Ticket Prices?" "Are New Stadiums a Good Deal?" and "Does Baseball Need a Salary Cap?" In keeping with the theme of the book (and of BP's work overall), each chapter takes one of these contentious baseball questions and breaks it down using the available evidence and statistical methodology. (Other chapters include "When Is One Run Worth More Than Two?" by James Click and "Is Alex Rodriguez Overpaid?" by Nate Silver, the latter of which actually manages to come up with a formula for determining a player's monetary value to his team, to the dollar.) If you want to know not just the answers to the above questions but the reasons for the answers, you need to read this book - and I'm not just saying that because I get a cut of royalties.

You can currently pre-order Baseball Between The Numbers from Amazon.com or Powells.com or via your local bookstore. (It's due out the first week in March.) Members of the press or potential reviewers can e-mail me and I'll see that you're put on the freebie list.